Tech IPOs: They're back! — Why are champagne corks popping again in Silicon Valley? Tech startups are coming back to Wall Street - and Business 2.0 Magazine identifies six that are likely to cash in. — (Business 2.0 Magazine) — For the first six years of the century …

Microsoft patent case stirs software export fears — It's not every day that both the U.S. government and advocates of free and open-source software align themselves in court with Microsoft. — But a high-stakes patent case, set to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday morning …

Cisco buys XML startup Reactivity — It has been a few years since Cisco Systems (CSCO) outlined a vision for what the San Jose based company calls Applications-Oriented Networking or AON. Think of it as Cisco-twist on Services Oriented Architecture! Like optical, high performance routing …

Satellite Synergy — In all the very fine stories about the proposed XM-Sirius merger, there was one glaring omission. — The reason these two companies have 13 million subscribers willing to cough up $12.95 a month for something we all grew up thinking should be free is that commercial radio has self-destructed.

GrandCentral adds support for Gizmo VoIP numbers — Andy and Sue previously sent me some press information on GrandCentral and I finally had a chance to setup an account last weekend. GrandCentral is a service that lets you obtain a single phone number and then tie that phone number to you for life.

ESR gives up on Fedora — The following letter was received from ESR, who has sent it to a number of Linux-related publications and mailing lists. It is presented verbatim, except for the addition of HTML code. — After thirteen years as a loyal Red Hat and Fedora user, I reached my limit today …

A new copyright battlefield: Veoh Networks — news analysis One of the last places you might expect to find copyright violations is on a Web site backed by Time Warner and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. — Nonetheless, Veoh Networks CEO Dmitry Shapiro acknowledges that only a week …

AP: Recording industry targets colleges — WASHINGTON - Cracking down on college students, the music industry is sending thousands more complaints to top universities this school year than it did last year as it targets music illegally downloaded over campus computer networks.

Netvibes Promises Cross-Platform Widget Compatibility — The fragmentation of widget platforms presents a problem for developers, who need to develop and then maintain different versions of widgets for the various desktop widget platforms (Vista, Mac, Google, Yahoo) as well as online platforms …

Japan's Hottest Cell Phone Straps — In Japan, dressing up a cell phone is almost as important as having one. The cell-phone strap is an indispensable accessory that lets a person express individuality without flaunting it, and often tells a little story about Japanese culture and history.

1-on-1 with Jason: $10K — Asked whether his new venture will take on Blogads.com, Jason Calacanis responded, "That's like Michael Jordan going after a 12-year old in a game of 1-on-1." — I laughed when I first read that. Typical Jason. — But, having thought about it, I think there's an interesting game to be played.

Google Image Results Redesign Undone (Poll) — The Google Image search results recently went live with a redesign which was hiding most image information, and only show it when you hover the mouse over the image. Google seems to have reverted this design step, and is now showing the old results layout …

"I'M A PC AND I'M A MAC" - CIRCA 1996! — This is a Mac user vs. PC user comparison from the September 1996 issue of MacAddict. (this issue was actually the premiere/first issue of MacAddict) I recently found it when going through some of my old MacAddict magazines.